Barely unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Honor’s Magic 5 Pro ranks first in the photo and video rankings of review site DXOMARK. A performance notably marked by a very good capture speed and very good details even in telephoto and ultra wide-angle.
The Honor Magic 5 Pro has just been unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2023 that it is already at the top of a ranking DXOMARK ! The review site has entered the Chinese brand’s latest addition directly to the top of the best smartphones in photo and video.
With an overall score of 152, the Magic 5 Pro finds itself ahead of the heavyweights of smartphone photography: the Huawei Mate 50 Pro (score of 149), the Chinese manufacturer’s latest flagship, and the Google Pixel 7 Pro (score of 147 ), which impressed us with its versatility. It is also three places behind Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro (score of 146).
A few more points
It is, moreover, in the face of the latter that DXOMARK regularly compares Honor’s smartphone in its detailed test. On paper, the iPhone 14 Pro and the Honor Magic 5 Pro are equipped with the same modules: a wide-angle, an ultra-wide-angle and a telephoto lens, although Honor offers a x3.5 optical zoom compared to the x3 of the Iphone.
In detail, the Magic 5 Pro’s score of 152 is divided into several scores depending on the category tested. In photography, DXOMARK rates it at 154 (compared to 143 for the iPhone 14 Pro). Honor’s high-end product gets the site’s top score in exposure, texture and digital noise, but falls just a little below the iPhone in colorimetry.
An (too?) effective HDR
If we move away from the numbers, the Honor Magic 5 Pro shines above all in the versatility of its photo modules. In use, DXOMARK gives it the edge in all situations: outdoors, indoors, in low light and for group and portrait shots.
Honor Magic 5 Pro // Source: DXOMARK
Apple iPhone 14 Pro // Source: DXOMARK
Outdoors and with a lot of light, Honor’s smartphone offers a different rendering from that of the iPhone 14 Pro. Where the latter clogs the sky a bit in some cases, the Magic 5 Pro’s HDR mode still retains a detailed sky. To the point of losing contrast sometimes: in a photo taken under an arch of the Louvre Palace, Honor’s zeal illuminates the shadows far too much, where the iPhone does the opposite, but transforms a blue sky into a white sky.
Better colorimetry
The site’s test also praises the capture speed of the smartphone’s cameras, with an almost non-existent shutter lag and almost always precise autofocus (except in Bokeh mode). Likewise, he commends Honor’s improvement in its color rendering, especially in skin tones, compared to the previous Magic 4 Ultimate…although DXOMARK Note that it doesn’t always work.
DXOMARKalso notice asometimes unpleasant texture rendering on faces“. However, Honor’s new flagship succeeds in this exercise better than the iPhone 14 Pro when you zoom in on the image, better distinguishing between the hair and the skin of the subject photographed.
Always more details
This is the other advantage of the Honor Magic 5 Pro over its competitor: its three modules have a definition of 50 megapixels, where we are rather used to seeing this quality of detail limited to the main module. Compared to the iPhone 14 Pro and its 12 megapixel telephoto and ultra wide-angle, the Chinese smartphone therefore systematically offers more detail once the image is zoomed.
The two kings of photography, however, stand out for their approach to interior photography, especially in low light. Facing a coffee table barely lit by a bedside lamp, the Magic 5 Pro chooses to capture a realistic scene without reducing shadows, to the point of not distinguishing part of the photo.
Conversely, the iPhone 14 Pro captures more light, and therefore more detail, but offers a slightly less realistic rendering. Two approaches that depend mainly on individual preferences. On the other hand, the Magic 5 Pro produces much less digital noise than its competitor, even in low light.
The best Android smartphone in video
In the last round, the Magic 5 Pro still lost to the iPhone 14 Pro in terms of video quality, with a score of 144 against 149. Apple’s product remains king in this category, with four maximum scores on 7. Honor only surpasses the iPhone in terms of artifact reduction, but that doesn’t stop it from being named “the best android device to record moving images“.
On the other hand, it will be necessary to wait for the second quarter of 2023 to obtain the Honor Magic 5 Pro in France: it will be sold at a price of 1199 euros in a single version of 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.
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